1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and control method for detecting an R-peak from an ElectroCardioGram (ECG), which is an electric signal output from the heart of a living body.
2. Description of the Related Art
A medical-electric convergence technique for electrically interpreting a health-related symptom from a living body has recently been developed in light of the increased interest in physical health. Particularly, since an intake of food with high fat or cholesterol content has increased, heart-related disease has rapidly increased. Thus, development of a technique for continually monitoring an abnormal symptom of cardio motility has become a priority.
Accordingly, a process for electrically interpreting an ECG output from a user has been developed. Detecting an R-peak interval included in the ECG is a required aspect of the ECG interpretation process.
Detecting an R-peak included in the ECG in the conventional art is largely divided into a method of using a differentiation and a method of using a wavelet. The method of using the differentiation employs a method of performing a differential operation on an input ECG signal and then applying an appropriate threshold value to a differential coefficient that is obtained by performing the differential operation, thereby detecting the R-peak. The R-peak has a steep gradient relative to time, compared with other intervals of the ECG signal, and accordingly, an interval having a gradient, i.e., a differential coefficient equal to or greater than a set level, is determined as the R-peak.
The method of using the wavelet involves performing wavelet transformation on the input ECG signal to use a modulus maxima line in a wavelet domain.
However, the conventional R-peak detection methods, including the two described above, have problem in that an input signal is greatly affect by noise and it is highly probable that an intense T-peak will be mistaken as the R-peak. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for the development of an R-peak detection technique that is robust against signal noise and the intense T-peak.